Battle of Solon
The Battle of Solon was fought between forces of the Republic of Haven Navy under Admiral Javier Giscard and Task Force 82 of the Royal Manticoran Navy under Admiral Honor Harrington when the Solon System was targeted for a deep raid by the RMN as part of Operation Cutworm III. The battle featured the first use of the RHN's new Tarantula and Moriarty system-defence platforms. It also resulted in the capture of Admiral Michelle Henke. (HH11) Summary Shortly after moving her forces in-system, Admiral Harrington was ambushed by Admiral Giscard's forces which had been waiting in hyper for a signal from the new Tarantula platforms. Giscard’s forces surrounded Harrington’s, and after several large missile pod volleys, surprised Harrington by launching over 17,000 missiles from pods that had been laid by battlecruisers, under the fire control of the new Moriarty system. Harrington's forces were badly damaged, but she managed to get half of her forces out of the system, with the notable exception being the battlecruiser [[HMS Ajax|HMS Ajax]], Admiral Michelle Henke's flagship, which due to damage was unable to go to hyper, nor abandon ship. Henke eventually managed to escape her ship, but was captured by Havenite forces. Order of Battle Republic of Haven Navy * Task Force of Third Fleet, CO Admiral Javier Giscard, consisted of: ** 18 superdreadnought pod-layers SD(P)s''Sovereign of Space''-class (including [[RHNS Sovereign of Space|RHNS Sovereign of Space]], CO Captain Marius Gozzi, task force flag, and [[RHNS Conquete|RHNS Conquete]]), a squadron of 6 CLACs''Aviary''-class and screening elements, split evenly into three task groups of 6 superdreadnoughts and 2 CLACs, including Task Group 32, CO Rear Admiral Hildegard Sewall ** Task Group 36, CO Rear Admiral Emile Deutscher *** division of superdreadnoughts (pre-pod, 2 units) *** squadron of battlecruisers (7 units) *** one hundred and ninety LACs *** Moriarty platform, in orbit around the planet Arthur *** Tarantula network, with stations at planets Arthur and Merlin, and subordinated missile pod deployments Royal Manticoran Navy Task Force 82 of Eighth Fleet, CO Admiral Honor Harrington: * Battle Division 61.1, CO Rear Admiral Allen Morowitzsuperdreadnought pod-layers (''Invictus''-class ** [[HMS Imperator|HMS Imperator]], CO Captain Rafe Cardones, task force flag ** [[HMS Intolerant|HMS Intolerant]], CO Captain James Sharif, division flag † * CLAC Sqadron 6, CO Vice Admiral Samuel Miklos, 6 units, including: ** [[HMS Succubus|HMS Succubus]], squadron flag ** [[HMS Unicorn|HMS Unicorn]] * Battlecruiser Squadron 81understrenghth, battlecruiser pod-layers (''Agamemnon''-class, CO Rear Admiral Michelle Henke, 5 units, including ** [[HMS Ajax|HMS Ajax]], CO Captain Diego Mikhailov, squadron flag † ** [[HMS Priam|HMS Priam]] † ** [[HMS Patrocles|HMS Patrocles]] † * Cruiser Squadron 12, CO Commodore Charise Fanaafi, 6 unitsof ''Edward Saganami A, B''- and ''Star Knight''- class, including: ** [[HMS Star Ranger|HMS Star Ranger]]Star Knight-class unit (Jayne's) † ** [[HMS Blackstone|HMS Blackstone]] † ** [[HMS Necromancer|HMS Necromancer]]Star Knight-class unit (Jayne's) † * squadron of light cruisers, 8 units, including ** [[HMS Fury|HMS Fury]] † ** [[HMS Buckler|HMS Buckler]] † ** [[HMS Atum|HMS Atum]] † ** [[HMS Tisphone|HMS Tisphone]] ** [[HMS Samurai|HMS Samurai]] ** [[HMS Clotho|HMS Clotho]] * 2 scouting destroyersit is not certain, if they were organized as division: ** [[HMS Ambuscade|HMS Ambuscade]], CO Commander Estwicke ** [[HMS Rifleman|HMS Rifleman]] Course of Battle Following the successes of Operation Cutworm and Operation Cutworm II, Operation Cutworm III targeted the Solon System. Two destroyers scouted the system prior to the arrival of Admiral Harrington's Task Force 82, and discovered a light system defence fleet in orbit of the planet Arthur, and groups of missile pods arranged around the Arthur and near the planet Merlin. Upon arrival, TF 82’s LAC Carrierss launched all it's LACs, and Admiral Miklos's CLACs remained at the system hyper-limit with one wing of LACs from HMS Unicorn and three light cruisers (HMS Tisphone, Samurai, and Clotho) for escort. Unbeknown to Harrington, the light system forces (designated Bogey one by TF 82) were a ruse to entice her forces to enter the system so they could be trapped by Admiral Giscard's forces, which were being coordinated by the new Tarantula platforms. Tarantula allowed Giscard's ambush task group to sit in hyper and wait for the signal to attack, similar to what Harrington had done at the Battle of Sidemore. Upon the discovery that FTL comms were originating from both Arthur and Merlin (from the Tarantula platforms), Harrington suspected some kind of coordinated trap, and ordered her CLACs and it’s escorts to hyper out to safety. Three task groups of RHN ships translated out of hyper and surrounded Harrington's units. Bogey two from system north, Bogey three from system south and Bogey four from astern. Each task group consisted of six superdreadnoughts and two CLACs, plus screens. Bogey four, led by Giscard, fired the first shot at TF 82 with 12,000 missiles over 11 salvos, mainly targeted at HMS Imperator and HMS Intolerant. Thanks to the new Keyhole II platforms and the fact that most of the LACs were ''Katanas'', over 8200 counter-missiles were fired, resulting in no missiles getting into attack range. This was followed up by a single salvo of 11,000 missiles, targeted at both superdreadnoughts and battlecruisers, of which 269 managed to hit, resulting in heavy damage to HMS Intolerant as well as the death of Admiral Morowitz. Battlecruisers HMS Star Ranger and HMS Ajax also sustained hits, although Ajax only suffered light damage. TF 82 responded with a salvo that targeted RHNS Conquete, causing moderate damage. Final volleys from both sides caused major damage to HMS Intolerant and RHNS Conquete. At this point Bogey four had pretty much exhausted it's supply of missile pods. Having outrun Bogey four, and passing by the extreme edge of Bogey three’s engagement envelope, Harrington moved Henke's battlecruisers so that they were between HMS Intolerant and the cluster of missile pods positioned near the planet Arthur. At this point Admiral Deutscher, who had been using Bogey one's battlecruisers to lay pods, ordered the activation of the Moriarty platform. The platform coordinated the launch and fire-control of over 17,000 missiles from both Bogey one’s pods and the pods in orbit around Arthur. In response Harrington fired salvoes from the pods of both superdreadnoughts and the Agamemnon-class battlecruiser pod-layers. Thanks to the control provided by Moriarty, very few RHN missiles lost telemetry, and even though thousands were intercepted by missile defences, over 1600 survived to attack TF 82. HMS Intolerant was completely obliterated, as were three light cruisers, two battlecruisers, and 211 LACs. Two heavy cruisers were turned into wrecks, and the battlecruisers HMS Ajax and HMS Necromancer suffered heavy damage to their impeller rings, with Ajax also suffering damage to her boat-bays, preventing evacuation. HMS Imperator also suffered minor hits. In return TF 82 destroyed two of Bogey one’s battlecruisers and heavily damaged a superdreadnought. With heavy damage slowing them down, TF 82 was in danger of being overtaken by Bogey two and Bogey three. With coordination from the scout destroyers, Admiral Miklos hypered in his CLACs to recover the surviving LACs, and the survivors of TF 82 (with the notable exception of HMS Ajax) hypered out, pursued by Bogey three. HMS Ajax was last seen being pounded by a volley from Bogey two, and was destroyed, presumably with all hands lost. Later it was discovered that some personnel, including Michelle Henke, had managed to board a pinnace and were captured after the ship was destroyed. Forces Lost RHN * two battlecruisers * two superdreadnoughts heavily damaged, including [[RHNS Conquete|RHNS Conquete]] RMN * one superdreadnought pod-layer ([[HMS Intolerant|HMS Intolerant]]) * 38% of the light cruisers, including [[HMS Fury|HMS Fury]], [[HMS Buckler|HMS Buckler]] and [[HMS Atum|HMS Atum]] * half the heavy cruisers including [[HMS Star Ranger|HMS Star Ranger]], [[HMS Blackstone|HMS Blackstone]] and [[HMS Necromancer|HMS Necromancer]] * 60% of the battlecruisers including [[HMS Priam|HMS Priam]], [[HMS Petrocles|HMS Petrocles]] and [[HMS Ajax|HMS Ajax]] * two hundred and eleven LACs Aftermath Admiral Giscard was offered the Congressional Cross, although he refused to accept it. He agreed instead to accept the thanks of Congress. Giscard considered the Cross to be too important an award to be given for political reasons. Pleased with the performance of Tarantula and Moriarty, Secretary of War Theisman ordered the deployment of Moriarty platforms elsewhere in the Republic to help bolster system defences and free up ships for the front-line. References Solon, Battle of Solon, Battle of Solon, Battle of